A (very) brief overview of WordPress as a useful tool to help build your online presence. This was given to the wonderful XL group in Birmingham UK. The objective was to give people enough information to be able to manage someone else doing the technical details, and to show just how easy it is to create and publish content using WordPress.

1. Introduction to WordPress Getting you started with your online media empire

2. What is WordPress? Content Management System Reader Interaction System Membership System An “industry standard” Support Evolution (SEO etc)

3. DO SOMETHING: Set Up Log into the admin area of your blog http://<yourdomain>/wp-admin.php Username and password as per set up

4. Key Concepts Appearance Separate ‘skin’ Themes & Widgets Content Posts Pages Comments Functionality Plug-ins

5. DO SOMETHING: Your First Posts Edit your About page Create a new post Create another post with an image

6. Look and Feel - Themes Characteristics: Sidebar Widget enabled WP 3.x ready Recommendations: Simplicity WOO Themes Thesis

7. DO SOMETHING: Themes Go to theme directory Appearance-> Themes -> Install Themes Select a theme Install Activate Switch themes

8. Look and Feel - Widgets Functionality from Plug-ins Part of the WordPress framework Widgets give you the presentation layer Free or commercial Can be a starting point Beware of bloat...

9. DO SOMETHING: Plug-ins Go to plug-in directory Plugins-> Add New Some Recommendations: Add to Any WP to Twitter Contact Form 7 Simple Favicon My Calendar

10. DO SOMETHING: Comments View someone else’s blog Add a comment (be nice!) Go into your own admin area Review / approve comments Comment on the comment

11. DO SOMETHING: Measuring Progress Register for Google Analytics www.google.com/analytics Link to existing Google account if you have one Install the “Google Analyticator” Plug-in Configure Check Reports Page Source

12. (BASIC) Search Engine Optimisation Technical Basics Tell Google Permalinks Page Titles Page Description Images (videos) Other Speed Cross linking / breadcrumbs Editorial Tell Google Content Lots Unique Relevant Links Share (Add to Any) Forums Article Marketing http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/

13. DO SOMETHING: SEO Tell Google: http://blogsearch.google.com/ping Set permalink structure Settings-> Permalinks /%postname%/ /%category%/%postname%/ Install SEO Slugs plug-in Removes ‘stop words’ Install Headspace2 plug-in Titles Descriptions Keywords

14. Keeping Your Site Fresh Establish a routine for content Schedule posts Keep on top of comments Akismet can help you If “reusing” content then top and tail with context Google likes images (and videos)

15. The endQuestions? If you found this workshop valuable then please make a denotation to the Warwickshire Air Ambulance: www.wnaa.co.uk